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10/22/14

Fill In Your Own Blanks.

Proverbs are short sentences drawn from long
experience.

Miguel de Cervantes

Here’s a rather interesting
story I once heard about Hemingway. During a lunch date, which probably
involved more than a few drinks, with several of friends, Hemingway proposed a
bet. He bet the table ten dollars each that he can craft an entire story in six
words. After the pot is set and collected, he grabs a napkin and scribbles down
the six words. After passing it around the table, everyone agreed he had won
the bet.

"For sale: baby shoes,
never worn."

Why bring this up, other than as entertaining
anecdote? Six words, nothing more, create an individual story within each
person’s mind. We take the frame that was given to us, and fill in the blank
space with our own perceptions and experiences. That’s what is so powerful
about the story.

Quotes and Concepts work the same way.

As I discuss with several people what should be
included in the book, they constantly question my unwillingness to make a set
of rules to follow as a Gentleman. Sure, it would be easier for me, to set down
a black and white code of behavior. And it would even be easier for many men to
become Gentlemen if they only had a set of laws to follow.

But that would mean you would “Act” like a
Gentleman and not “Become” a Gentleman.

I try to break down concepts in a generalized
form, or if I do express specifics, I do them in relationship to a practical
application. Every man’s cultural development is different, every man’s surroundings
are different, and more importantly though, every man has a different reason to
be a Gentleman. Assuming that a single cookie-cutter set of rules might apply
to everyone is the easiest path to fail at what I am trying to achieve.

The idea behind Being Caballero is to provide
you a simple frame where you can insert your own reasons to better yourself.
There is no right way or wrong way to become a Gentleman, as long as you do so
honestly, and for the right reasons. There are as many paths to become a Gentleman
as there are men trying to be Gentlemen.

Club Men

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